FlashForward — the next LOST?

ABC is pitching a new show, FlashForward, as something that will appeal to LOST fans. In the preview video (below), they even start off by saying “From the network that brought you LOST ….”

The show features Sonya Walger, LOST’s Penny, in a starring role. There are also rumors that Dominic Monaghan, who played Charlie, may be in the cast, but the FlashForward producers are just saying “no comment.”

The premise of the show is that everyone in the world, for some unknown reason, blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds and gets a glimpse of their lives six months in the future, although they don’t know if what they see will actually happen.

I must say, the premise doesn’t really grab me, but it will all depend on what they do with it. When I first heard the premise of LOST — a bunch of people crash on an island — I thought “eh.” And now look where I am, totally addicted.

14 responses to “FlashForward — the next LOST?”

I almost never saw LOST at all. I hadn’t planned on watching it and didn’t even see the pilot when they first showed it. Then I happened to see the second part of the pilot (IIRC, I may just have been channel surfing and stumbled on it accidentally) — and THEN I thought — WOW! this is REALLY good!

I was able to backtrack and watch the first part of the pilot when they reran it later that week.

The moral of the story is that I will never again judge a show by my first reaction to its premise. 😉

Funny. 🙂 I’d decided that I was NOT going to add ANY new shows to my tv habits. But the night Lost’s pilot came on I was grading papers, and the tv just happened to be on ABC in the background. I didn’t get many papers graded during that hour, and needless to say, I was hooked. 🙂

I thought it wasn’t in the same league as LOST. I’ve been rewatching the old LOST episodes, and I recently saw “Walkabout,” the one where they revealed that Locke was in a wheelchair at the end — and what an amazing hour of television that was. The writing, acting, directing, everything was absolutely inspired.

I never got that feeling from FlashForward. I thought it was well-crafted, and entertaining, and I did actually get chills when they revealed that everyone’s flashback had taken them to the same exact moment in time. I am curious to see what happens next and am looking forward to watching next week’s episode.

But I didn’t get the feeling, the way I do with LOST, that the show is about more than just itself, that it is tackling deep themes and providing insight into character.

Speaking of good, but not LOST-league television, I also enjoyed “The Good Wife” and “Eastwick” this week. That’s getting to be a lot of TV, though, and something may have to go.

Exactly. It wasn’t even code to the same league. I remember when I saw the pilot of Lost how my mouth was just hanging open, and I was vigorously wishing I didn’t have to wait a week for the next epi.

Flashforward was kind of fun and interesting, but just not enough for me to feel like I have to see the next epi. Maybe seeing the 19 minute preview made it more lackluster? It almost was kind of predictable – the preview part was probably the most interesting.

I’d almost compare the pilot to the Jack’s Tatoo epi – interesting, but not compelling.